Are brands really segmenting?

It’s not just the data you have, it’s what you do with it.

Collecting massive amounts of data won’t help your brand unless you’re effectively analysing and using it. A crucial part of this is structuring your data through data segmentation: it’s the foundation of personalisation that’s become increasingly crucial to successful brand marketing.

So what is data segmentation, are brands doing segmenting effectively and what tools can help?

What is segmenting and why is it important?

Segmenting data is simply the process of taking a set of data and dividing it into groups based on shared characteristics. You can choose the parameters you use, i.e. how you divide it, so you can separate data based on age, gender or purchase history, if you have this information. This means you can sort your customers into groups based on their stated characteristics or preferences.

With your customers separated out in this way, you can then tailor your marketing and make sure you’re only sending them information that’s relevant to them and engaging them in a way they’ll be more likely to respond to.

For example, if a beauty brand collects data on the skin type of customers, they can segment their data based on skin type. Then, they can adjust their marketing to make sure they’re only sending certain samples, or showing certain adverts, to customers with dry skin. This targeted marketing cuts waste (product samples for dry skin aren’t sent to customers with oily skin, for instance, who will have little use for them) and helps build brand loyalty. Consumers can see that a brand cares about their unique needs and interests and this makes them more likely to buy from them or return to them again.

Segmenting mistakes brands make

Data segmentation is therefore crucial to sophisticated marketing and the majority of brands would acknowledge this. However, many brands believe they’re segmenting effectively when, in reality, they aren’t.

A brand may think they are properly segmenting data if they are filtering out certain customers but if they aren’t using fit-for-purpose segmenting platforms or tools, their data structuring attempts won’t work. Brands are also running into issues due to GDPR rules which mean companies must collect their own data, as data collected for one reason by another company can no longer be sold on. This has left many brands struggling to collect valuable data that can be used for personalised marketing.

Segmenting in the right way

The good news is that there are tools that can help brands both in organising their data and in making sure they’re collecting valuable data in the first place, in a way that’s compliant with the latest laws and regulations.

Odore’s platform keeps creators, campaigns and results in one place, so brands can segment by audience, market and past performance, brief the right creators and review every post before it goes live.

Data segmentation is essential to personalised marketing but it won’t work if brands aren’t doing it right. Collecting compliant, valuable data and effectively sorting it relies on using sophisticated tools designed for this purpose. As data only gets more important in growth and brand development, businesses must make sure they’re segmenting successfully.